10 Years Later
by squishy-asshat
Summary: Derek and Penelope meet up again 10 years after he left the BAU. Will things be like they were before or has too much time passed? (I'm totally terrible at summaries, just an idea I had that I thought might be fun. Also I miss PG/DM together.)
1. Chapter 1

Penelope sat at the end of the bar drinking an amoretto sour. She was going to wait to order a drink but it started getting late and she was nervous. He was late, he was never late. Well, she didn't know if that was still true. It had been quite a while since they had seen each other or talked even. She wondered if maybe he had changed. People change all the time, he wasn't exempt from that. What if this was really awkward? What if meeting here was a terrible idea? What if he was a completely different person? Just as she worked her mind into a partially panicked frenzy she saw him. He was walking towards her with that same old thousand watt smile. Everything she was just worrying about left immediately and was replaced with that feeling of comfort she always had when he was around.

"Hey!" he beamed as he slid onto the stool next to her.

"Hi." She smiled back; _this was so surreal_ she thought.

Before either of them could say anything else the bartender came and took his order. Penelope smirked at herself; he still drank the same thing.

"What are you smirking at?" he asked as he caught her eye.

"Just happy we decided to meet up. You better have pictures of that adorable son of yours."

He laughed and pulled out his phone showing her a few pictures of Hank.

"OH MY GOSH, DEREK! He is the cutest little cupcake!" she exclaimed "When did he get so big?! How old is he now? Like ten?" she looked like she could barely believe her own words.

"Yeah, He'll be ten in about two weeks. He may be cute but is a handful." He said half joking half serious.

"Well he is _your_ son. I'd expect nothing less. How's Savannah?"

"I don't know. She um- she left."

That news surprised her on a few different levels. The obvious one being that it sounded like a not so fun ordeal for Derek. The other one was his honesty about it. He just flat out told her, sure they used to share everything but after all this time he was still willing to be open with her. That surprised her.

"Oh, I'm really sorry. I didn't know." She wanted to grab his hand or touch his shoulder. Anything to show that she hoped he was ok, but she wasn't sure she should.

"I'm okay. It was a few years ago, Hank and I are okay." He tried to smile at her so she would know he was telling them truth but it didn't quite work. He was still slightly bitter and he knew it probably showed. He decided to take the focus off himself. "Are you still with Sam?"

"No, we were engaged for a while but in the end we decided to go our separate ways."

"It was a mutual thing?"

"Yeah, things just didn't feel _right._ Ya know?"

"All too well."

Derek sat in his car staring out the windshield. He had parked about ten minutes ago but if he was being honest he was scared to go in. He hated that it had been so long since he had last seen her. Five years was a long time. A lot changes in five years. He felt ridiculous; they were just meeting for drinks. He felt like a nervous teen before a first date, ridiculous. What if she was different, well she had always been different. What if she had changed? What if she wasn't the same Penelope he remembered? He looked at the clock and realized he was late. He walked into the restaurant and looked around for her. What if he didn't recognize her? Then he saw her, she was sitting alone towards the back corner of the room. When he saw her that ridiculous feel dissipated. He walked over to where she was and as soon as she looked over and noticed him he couldn't help but smile. They said hello and he ordered a drink. They made small talk for a while and as nice as it was he missed the way they used to talk. The pet names and completely inappropriate subject matters, but he felt like he had lost his right to try and jump back to what they had before. After all their small talk had dried up and both of them had consumed enough to feel a slight buzz he felt like he needed to tell her how sorry he was. There was this invisible emotional wall they couldn't seem to get past.

"Pen, I'm really sorry about us." He said looking at his beer bottle.

"What do you mean?" she asked, brows knit in confusion.

"I'm sorry that I didn't try harder to keep in touch." He felt terrible that they had drifted apart.

"Life gets busy. We both know that, probably better than anyone. It's no one's fault, it just happens sometimes." She told him gently. "Hey," when he didn't look up she put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay."

He looked up at her and took a deep breathe. He didn't realize how much he missed all of these small aspects of their friendship. She had his back, he knew that but the years had made him forget just how much she looked after him, maybe even more so than he had looked after her. He forgot how much comfort she brought him, just a little thing like her hand on his shoulder made him feel so much better.

"We're okay?" he asked hopefully.

A broad smile spread on her face and she nodded. "We're okay."

Getting that out of the way seemed to make things a bit more comfortable. They both felt that they had a little more leeway, they didn't feel the need to tip toe or be too cautious. They could both relax and stop worrying.

"I've missed you." It was barely above a whisper but he heard her.

"Baby Girl, you have no idea." He replied with a grin.

 **AN: I think there will be 3 or so more chapters that I hope to get up soon! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Baby Girl you have no idea." He replied with a grin._

She inhaled quickly and then slowly exhaled; she had wanted to hear those first two words for too long. It took her by surprise, she never thought she would hear him call her that again. He left and got married and had a son, she understood but that didn't stop her heart from wanting to hear him say that. She didn't realize how much until she heard him. She slipped off her stool and hugged him. Partially because she just felt like she needed to and partially because she didn't want him to see her tearing up.

She caught him slightly off guard. He put his drink down and hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. They stood like that and didn't say anything for a minute, which was more than okay with him. As much as he tried not to admit it he needed this, he needed her. He tried to tell himself he didn't but it was no use. He never wanted to be a person that _needed_ someone else but she was that person for him. He squeezed her just a bit tighter and let himself be in the moment.

Just then her phone went off. She gently pulled away and tried to discreetly wipe her eyes. "Sorry, I just need to make sure this isn't work." She said quietly as she searched through her bag. She pulled out her phone and checked it quickly before putting it back. "Nope, all set."

"No baddies tonight?"

"Not at the moment, hopefully it'll stay that way." There was silence for a quick moment before she asked "Do you ever miss it?"

"Yeah, being a cop again is great but it's different than it was before."

"What do you miss the most?"

"The team. How is everyone?"

Her face lit up. "Everyone is great! Okay, let's see, JJ and Will had a little girl a couple of years ago. Emily came back. Her and the hubby settled down near Quantico since she became section chief. Hotch found a lady love. They moved to a nice small town with jack and their daughter. Rossi is still the Italian playboy he's always been and boy wonder just got married believe it or not."

"He did?!" Derek was shocked, he missed so much. Not that he thought their lives would stop but, he didn't really think about what could happen in his absence.

She nodded enthusiastically. "She is the most perfect match for him. They are the cutest little love birds, Oh! I have a picture, look!" she pulled out her phone and showed him the picture she had as her background. It was the team at Spencer's wedding.

Penelope noticed the bittersweet smile on Derek's face and she knew why it was there. "He wanted to invite you." She said softly. "I just don't think he knew how." Derek, still smiling, nodded. The smile was a front, he was upset. She could tell. She could always tell and that hadn't changed. She was going to mention it when she saw the time on her phone.

"Oh, Derek, it's 11:30 I don't want to keep you if you need to get back home for Hank." She absolutely didn't want this to end but she didn't want to hog all of his time.

"He's sleeping at a friend's house tonight so I have time but if you need to go…"

"No, but I am kind of hungry. I've got tons of leftovers from last night if you wanna come back to mine?" The minute the words left her mouth she felt a little nervous again. He hadn't been to her apartment in almost ten years. It was just weird. What if he said no? Then this would be awkward because she would have to leave and she didn't want to.

"I'd love to."

She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. They paid for their drinks and went to their respective cars. She pulled out of the lot and he followed, not that he needed to, he had been there plenty of times before. Penelope couldn't get over how surreal this all was. Was he really coming back to her apartment? Did she forget to fold that laundry she left on the couch? She took a deep breath, it was just Derek, this wasn't a big deal.

As Derek drove behind her he couldn't stop smiling. He had hoped that meeting up would be a good idea but there was that nagging thought in his brain that things may have changed or that maybe she was mad at him. However neither of those things were true and it was just like old times. He used to love hanging out at her apartment, it was always so comfortable. As much as he liked the bar he was excited to be able to relax a bit and find out what she had been up to over the past 10 years. He knew it would easier to talk in private, without awkwardly hoping that the rest of the bar didn't hear their conversation.

"I'm just gonna apologize now for the mess, I left in a hurry this morning." She said as she unlocked her front door and let them in.

"It's just me, no apologies necessary." He said with a smile. When she smiled back at him he could tell that she was as thankful that they finally were with each other again as he was.

Penelope fixed them both a plate of leftovers and they sat down on the sofa. She was on one end nestled into the corner with her knees up and her plate in her hand while he was at the other end with his plate on his lap.

"So, what's new in your life Garcia?" He asked just before he took a bite of food.

"Um, honestly not much." She shrugged.

"It's been almost ten years and not much is all you got?" he chuckled, just then a big black and white cat jump up on the back of the sofa causing Derek to jump. "Whoa!"

She tried her best to hold back her laughs but it was pretty funny seeing Derek that startled. "I got a cat." Once her laughing had subsided she tried to answer his question. "You know I'm not one for change, I'm also terrible at these broad questions. Okay, let's play like 20 questions, nothing is off limits. Go."

 **To be continued...  
AN: Thanks for reading and leaving a review! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, does it still take you over an hour to get ready in the morning?"

"beauty this magical takes time my dear. But actually I've gotten it down to a 45 minute science."

"Wow, I'm pretty impressed." He remembered all the mornings they carpooled. He would always have to wait at least 20 minutes. "You're turn."

"Do you still wake up at unfathomable hours to work out?" She remembered all the times he would get up before the sun to go jog or lift weights. Not that there was anything wrong with it, she just loved sleep and could never understand being awake that early on purpose.

He chuckled. "No, I still work out-"

"Oh and it's paid off." She winked at him.

"Thank you. However, once Hank was born I had to take all the sleep I could get. Babies are no joke. Do you still eat cheesecake on your birthday?"

"Of course! Do you still insist on not celebrating your birthday?"

"Pretty much." He smiled, he remembered all the times he told her he didn't need a big party or a fancy present but she always insisted and even though he never admit it she made him feel very special and he liked it. "Can I ask you a bigger question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Anything." She replied, ready to answer whatever he asked. Even though all this time had passed the trust was still there.

"What really happened with you and Sam?" The answer she had given him earlier didn't sit right; he could tell she wasn't giving him the whole story.

She took a long deep breath. "Well, we got engaged and things were good, for a while, then months turned into years and nothing changed. We were still just engaged. Every time I asked him about it he would kind of evade it. After two years of being engaged I told him we either needed to get married or just call it off because we were at a standstill. He agreed, he told me we had grown apart and then he left. I found out after that he had been seeing someone else and it all started to make sense. They got married a few years ago. He's happy now, so that's good."

"That's good?" Derek couldn't believe it, did she really just say 'that's good'? He was trying to process all that she had just told him but that stood out the most.

"Yeah, I was mad, like really mad, for a while but it doesn't do me any good. I've made peace with it. There is too much bad stuff in the world. I see enough of it at work and I don't have time for it. I'm glad he's happy."

He should have known she would say that. It was such a Penelope answer. "Are _you_ happy?" he asked curiously.

She thought for a second and then, almost hesitantly, nodded her head. She looked away and he knew there was more to it.

"But?"

"No, I am happy. My job is great, my friends are the most wonderful humans. Everything is great, I just get a little lonely sometimes." She told him honestly, there was no point in telling half-truths. It was obvious he would see right through them. However that didn't mean she wanted to dwell on the subject, so she changed it before he could continue. "My turn, what happened with you and Savannah?"

"Nothing specific happened. It was just a bunch of little things. After we had Hank we realized how different we both were. We both wanted really different things and the lives we wanted didn't mesh together. So she decided to leave. We share custody and as long as she's there for Hank that's what really matters."

"What does Hank think about all of it?"

"He's okay with it. I think he wishes we were still together but overall he's alright." He shrugged and looked down at this hand resting on his lap.

Just like he could tell with her she could tell that that wasn't all he felt about the matter. "And what about you?"

"Me? I was pissed for a long time but like you said I don't have time for it. So we're civil but that's about it."

"Are you happy?"

He looked over at her and didn't say anything for a minute, and then he smiled. "Yeah, I am, but I miss you."

She smirked back at him "I miss you too." She said in reply. She couldn't help the blush that she could feel creeping up. It was the way he was looking at her. He just kept looking at her with that half smile. "What?" she asked.

"Let me explain." He said as he moved a little closer to her.  
She just nodded.

"I have never stopped thinking about you. I've never stopped wanted to call or text or something. I was afraid you were mad at me. I was also afraid of where things might go between us so I made sure to stay away. When I left the BAU I was happy, I thought I was where I wanted to be. I didn't realize until it was too late that Savannah wasn't the right woman. I loved her but when things started to get tough they got really tough. I don't think we tried very hard to fix things because we knew that it was a lost cause. I did love her but not like I loved you."

They stared at each other. The more he spoke the more confused she looked. She took a deep breath. Then she looked away, her eyebrows knitted in thought. "That was 10 years ago, Derek." She said quietly.

"I know." He said. He was starting to feel defeated. He let this big thing off his chest but it seemed like all the fantasies of her feeling the same were just that, fantasies.

"That's a really long time." She said still looking at some spot on the floor.

"I know." He said again.

She looked over at him. "You felt like this the whole time but didn't say anything?"

He just nodded.

She looked at him sternly. "So we could have had 10 years together but we didn't cause you're a big stupid idiot?!"

His eyes lit up and he couldn't help the huge smile that spread across his face. "Does this mean that-"

"That I'm mad at you? Yes, cause you're a dummy." At first he thought she was joking but she actually looked pretty serious. Then she sighed and he could see her soften a bit. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Cause I'm a big stupid idiot?" he said using her words for a minute ago as he smiled softly.

That's when she cracked. "Yeah, you are." She replied with a small smile. Then she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him close. He hugged her back immediately.  
This was it. This was home for him and he missed it like crazy. He didn't remember until she was wrapped tightly in his arms how much he loved her, how comfortable he was when she was with him.

"Does this mean you're _my_ big stupid idiot?" she whispered as she leaned back to look at him. This was too much. She had thought about them being together many, many times but she never really thought it was something that would ever happen. She had let that fantasy go a long time ago. It popped up in the back of her mind every once in a while. All of the what ifs but nothing serious. She almost pinched herself.

"If you'll have me?"

She moved her hands from around his neck and placed them on either side of his face. She stared at him for a second with a small smile. She pulled him close. "Always." She said quietly before closing the small space between them and finally kissing him.

 **AN: There may be one more final chapter but I'm not sure just yet. So for now I'm going to mark this story as complete. Thanks for reading!**


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